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Competitiveness
简体
Competitiveness
竞争力

Learn the Zero Conditional

Date: Aug 03 2012

Themes: Sports

Grammar: Zero Conditional

Intro

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In order to win a gold medal at the Olympics, you must have the competitive spirit. In other parts of life, too, a little healthy competition can make us try harder to succeed. At work or at school, the desire to get ahead can be a powerful source of motivation.

But sometimes, it is difficult to know where exactly the line between healthy and unhealthy competition lies. Nobody likes a person who is overly aggressive, or who treats every little thing like a serious competition. Find out who wins the competition for Most Competitive, Mason or Jason.

若要在奥运会上赢得金牌,就必须具有竞争精神。生活中的其他方面也一样,一些良性竞争可使我们更加努力去获得成功。无论是工作还是学习,获得成功的渴望可以成为最强大的动力。

但是有时候,人们很难确定良性竞争和恶性竞争的分界线。大家都不喜欢太争强好胜,或将每一件小事都当做极其严肃的竞争来对待的人。看看在这场“最具竞争力”的比赛中,谁是赢家,梅森还是詹森。

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Jason

Mason

Mason

Jason:  Are you the kind of person that turns everything into a competition?

Mason:  No, not really. It’s funny, I generally associate competitiveness with sports, which I…really don’t play, sports. But I’m pretty competitive when it comes to ideas.

Jason:  What do you mean?

Mason:  Well, I mean because, like, for my job, it’s mostly based on who can come up with the best idea or concept or whatever.

Jason:  OK.

Mason:  And I most of the time think mine is the best.

Jason:  I see.

Mason:  Which is not to say that I’m not open to having other people’s ideas be better, I just am really hard to please when it comes to me thinking your idea is better than mine.

Jason:  I think that’s just pride.

Mason:  That’s the nice way to put it, maybe.

Jason:  You’re not necessarily looking to dominate the others just for the sake of it.

Mason:  It is kind of aggressive though, like, “You just try and top my idea.”

Jason:  Where does that come from? Why do we do that?

Mason:  Man, in my case I think it’s pure ego.

Jason:  I mean, I guess it has like a biological root. Life is sort of, on a scientific level, about competition, and eating things rather than getting eaten.

Mason:  There’s a healthy amount of competition. I don’t know what it is.

Jason:  You can get lazy if there’s not someone there to push you to keep getting better.

 

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Discussion

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Jason asks Mason if he is competitive. Mason says that he is generally not a very competitive person. But he does sometimes get competitive at work. He always thinks he has the best ideas. It’s hard for him to accept that someone else’s ideas are better.

Jason wonders why people are competitive. Mason thinks it has to do with having a big ego, or a lot of pride. Jason points out that competition is a part of nature. He also thinks that there is a good side to being competitive. Wanting to be the best pushes you to try harder.

Are you a competitive person? Do you think it is good to be competitive, or do you dislike competitive people?

 

Comments

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i love life

Palestinian Territory, Occupied

we need an Competitiveness  in our lives , we can’t live without competitiveness 


In my opinion my life has lots of competitiveness examples we live under occupation , we are living with terrible conditions lives we should to be an competitve people , If we loss that feeling we will be an weak people . 


I prefer to be competitive person I don’t like to be any man this is makes me I’m on the correct road , If you have a big confidence in yourself you will be very competitive person If you don’t trust in your skills you will be at your place .


you must challenge All your circumstances don’t feel weakness try to Improve your life to forward , don’t be hesitate .

10:05 PM Aug 03 2012 |

1 person likes this

sanaa2000

sanaa2000

Egypt

Ya Im acompetitive person specially at work or study,but I accept the others ideas too.I think its good to be competitive person in some cases,cuz u will try to show ur best & get the good idea.

09:26 PM Aug 03 2012 |

Nicte ha

Nicte ha

Mexico

Ok, push, but don’t push very much!!!


Wink

07:47 PM Aug 03 2012 |

ErinDong

ErinDong

United States

i am really competitive in soccer and also really aggressive too. i think people who are really competitive are slightly too competitive.they may hurt someone and start rioting if they don’t win. some of them like to cheat. winners play fair .

07:30 PM Aug 03 2012 |

1 person likes this

bellaboo2422

Pakistan


competition is good rather very good if it is healthy. i think life is a combination of competitive situtions. we compete in every walk of life some time wins some times lose. if someone continouslu y wins a sense of superiorty and pride takes place some where inside human being and later on it appears in a horible face of arrogance. the top way to cope up this difficulty is to be humble and very down towards. we should assume our victory as a bounty of Allah almighty/God. yes competitive spirit is again very essential to get ahead to progress in any field of life but it should be possitive. possitivity in thoughts in actions leads us towards sucess and healty competition evolve. in this way people will be more open to take part in any competition entho will be on the top, ego ll get supressesd somewhere in deep down, winner ll not even try to dominate loser and sense of sportsman ship arise.

06:48 PM Aug 03 2012 |

محمدين محمد

Sudan

i like to find people

06:14 PM Aug 03 2012 |

Eliza09

Eliza09

United States

In my opinion is good to be competitive, because you can demostrate your talent and get many goals. It is positive in the way that you do not hurt other’s feelings and also be a good example to others.

03:42 PM Aug 03 2012 |

aBEER

aBEERSuper Member!

Egypt

 i think we can guide competitiveness toward a positive way or negative way , by our thoughts  and we have to be away from being pride or having  a big ego

02:50 PM Aug 03 2012 |

Walace

Brazil

I’m not that much competitive, but I’m not the lazy bones, either. Actually I’m very go-getter. I also admire competitive people when they are not freaky ones. I think there is not worse than a person with a sick ego. Trying to get ahead in life might get people misunderstood if they act too much agressive. This kind of behavior can really grow true if it is out of hand, and what would be a simple attempt to friendly top someone’s idea becomes a game of self-satisfaction and domination. A nice way to work this out is pushing people around you up and being open to other people’s ideas.

02:31 PM Aug 03 2012 |

Englishty

Englishty

Egypt

Yes i think i’m a competitive person, i’m trying to improve myself all the time and of course being around people who are better than me or good at doing something definitely motivates me to be up there with them and maybe better than them because i believe we all are capable of doing everything if we want, i don’t think we are born with this competitiveness but we gain it according to the atmosphere we live in and the people who surround us.

01:41 PM Aug 03 2012 |

saeedshin

saeedshin

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

bytheway sence of competitiveness is nececcery useful for human being to development theirs lives.

12:05 PM Aug 03 2012 |

nastaran.k

nastaran.k

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

totally i’m not a competitive person in life,although i know that it’s good to be.Those who are competitive are more succsessful than others,because they think that they should be better than others and inorder to reach their goal which is being better then others in work,school,life.etc they do their best.So i think that competitive peaple are more succsessful than others and have better life.good for them.

11:25 AM Aug 03 2012 |

saeedshin

saeedshin

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

I think competition and being competitve is one of the important things in our life. however gist of competition and way of being competitive is more important!

09:49 AM Aug 03 2012 |

La Princesse de la vie

Egypt

I’m a competitive person, but I always accept other’s ideas and concepts if I find them better than mine..  If you want to top and be the best, you should accept defeat until you are sure you’re the winner..


When you learn more and more and gain experience everytime you lose at, you will be worthy to be the top then..

samirah

samirah

Saudi Arabia

my life is always a competition .it is arduous for women in my homeland to prove themselves in manly community.competition is a key to  success….Cool

06:26 AM Aug 03 2012 |

ma qianqian

China

I think being competitive is a good way to keep alive,it’s a motivation to push you getting better than others,to adjust this sociaty better,to live better.

04:02 AM Aug 03 2012 |

Talia Do

Talia Do

Viet Nam

First we should look at the definition of competition. Competition is the striving of two or more persons for the same goal which is limited so that all cannot have. (Biesanz)


And competitive means having or displaying a strong desire to be more successful than others.


Being competitive is good since it determines the role and status of individual, increases efficiency among competitors, prevents undue concentration of power among the hands of few.


But for people who are too competitive, who have big egos, or a lot of pride, things will become worse. Because too much competition will leads to frustration, creates emotional disturbances, sometimes leads to conflict and exploitation. Besides unlimited competition gives rise to monopoly and this is not good for the social and economic progress.


For me, too many of anything is always not good. My lodestar is ‘when enough is enough.’ Hence I always maintain an average cometitive level (just enough to push me to do things better) and try not to turn it into a direct conflict in any circumstances.

03:51 AM Aug 03 2012 |

abaan

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Competition, in a healthy amount, gives you a strong motivation to do things better in every parts of life.

03:26 AM Aug 03 2012 |

Ngubo Sixtus

South Africa

competetiveness is a right way to encourage people to do a pretty good things than the others. 

03:06 AM Aug 03 2012 |

no volvere

United Arab Emirates

great lesson ! its true that we all had to deal with a competitive people at some time .. whether its the neighbor beside or ur college at university or work who always take it seriously and put that extra effort just to be a head.


i believe competition is a good tool for enhancing many things only if it was directed and handled correctly. By that i mean everyone get the chance to do his best without offending the other or loosing anything between. On the other hand, bad competition ” the one that provokes feeling of irritation or even anxiety” is just an indication of some kind of insecurity. and people without realizing starts to lose many essential values.


i could be wrong at some point .. but felt like sharing my opinionTongue out 

01:17 AM Aug 03 2012 |

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